Bad Bunny is detailing why he excluded the United States from his upcoming world tour.
The Puerto Rican musician, whose real name is Benito Martínez Ocasio, told i-D magazine the influx of ICE raids influenced his decision to skip the U.S. on his upcoming tour.
“Man, honestly, yes. There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times. All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent,“ the three-time Grammy Award winner told the outlet.
“I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the US but specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the U.S.,” Bad Bunny said while referring to his residency at Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
“People from the U.S. could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” he said. “But there was the issue of — like, (expletive) ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
Bad Bunny has historically used his social media following to report ICE sightings in Puerto Rico. Variety reported the singer-rapper once posted a video that referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as “sons of bitches” who can’t seem to leave “people alone and working.”
He also told i-D that he believes fans can better understand his music and the “whole experience” from his shows in Puerto Rico.
“It feels a bit like … How do I say this? Innocence. An eternal innocence. It has the joy and the party vibe of ‘Un Verano Sin Ti,’ but this time the Puerto Rican-ness is more present than ever,” he told the outlet. “The pride, the sense of homeland that unites generations. It’s always been something you see in my concerts, but in this concert, it is much more marked. There are kids who are 17, 18 — but also those who are 20, 30, 40, 60, there are elderly people. You see people dancing, laughing, singing.”
Bad Bunny announced his world tour, in support of his new album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” back in May. The tour will have concerts across several countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Spain.
The tour will follow Bad Bunny’s 30-show residency taking place at the iconic Coliseo de Puerto Rico, which ends Sunday, Sept. 14.
Since announcing the tour, ICE raids under President Donald Trump’s administration have increased significantly. ICE made roughly three times as many arrests from May through July compared with the same period last year, according to government figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Deportation Data Project.
Notable ICE arrests that have occurred in Massachusetts include that of Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, who was detained by ICE for 10 days over a decades-old minor marijuana charge, and Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, who was arrested by agents on Eureka Street in Worcester on May 8.
Meanwhile in March, Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested by six masked federal immigration agents in Somerville in apparent retaliation to an op-ed article she co-authored in support of the Palestinians in Gaza in the school’s newspaper in 2024. She was released from an immigration detention center and returned to Boston in May.
In all cases, each woman was said to have been allowed in the U.S. legally, either as a resident or student.
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